"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to honor the memory of our dear friend, Johnson City Hooters. I have not been to Hooters in a long time, since my last visit they have remodeled and gone to a closed kitchen. For many years myself and my friend group came here every single week during their wing night, we enjoyed delicious wings at affordable prices, good company and a fun atmosphere. Alas, college graduations come and wing/beer friend groups go. Passing through today I decided to visit the old favorite and see how things were going. First of all, the remodel is fine but in my opinion it has killed the vibe a bit, the open kitchen and long bar were always fun to watch while waiting for a wing plate refill. The wings are pricey, I paid over $20 for a plate of 15, I don't blame this on the restaurant though, everything is too expensive these days, and honestly I would be happy to pay that occasionally for a quality plate of food. That's where I had an issue. The wings in their current state are just flat out not good. Overly breaded and too lightly sauced, with the heavy breading often falling off a good portion of the wing, I didn't finish my plate and it wasn't because I was full. In the past I remember large and breaded wings, dripping with sauce. These bad boys come nowhere close. The flavor is still there when you bite into a part of the wing that actually had the good fortune of getting sauced, but overall the wings just aren't good anymore. I would feel ashamed to only mention the bad so let me shine a light on the positives. The service is fantastic, as it has always been. Our waitress was friendly, swift, and accurate, I did not get her name as I guess they don't write it on the napkins anymore, but she was a bright spot during a dark experience. The food was fresh and hot, even if it wasn't very tasty or good quality. Overall I really hate to leave a negative review for this particular location because it seems like the issues I had probably come from a corporate level instead of local, the local control of things like service and food freshness was awesome. As much as it pains me to say it, skip this place and hope as I do that they find their way back to the light of old."
